This just means that we can spend more time watching badminton.

Baseball and softball have been dropped from the stable of Olympic events, ending their brief sojurn in the pantheon of international sports. London, which admittedly has other things on its mind right now, is probably relieved at not having to convert a cricket pitch or something in time for the 2012 games. Given the lack of major league players on national teams, hardly anyone ever noticed the existence of baseball in the Olympics; softball got a few passing mentions in 2004, but the U.S.'s complete dominance in the tournament probably says something about how international the sport really is.

And it's not like the idea of international baseball is going away any time soon. Plans are still underway for a "World Baseball Classic" in 2006, and of course, there's the newly-internationalized Home Run Derby on tap for this weekend.

Comments (2)

HRD, remember..."chicks love the long ball". still my favorite commercial of recent memory.

I'm all for getting rid of baseball and softball as long as it's the first step in a movement that will eventually rid us of syncronized swimming and that gymnatistics events where the little darlings prance around while waving a ribbon.